Here here. In what was an otherwise well written article, that was the one thing that made my eyeballs spin around in their sockets and a little man pop out of my forehead like a cuckoo clock and say "YeahbuhWHAT?!?!!?"

Speaking of that article: Maybe I've been here too long. Maybe it's because I came here from a real shithole, but I have always thought the Seattle Center was wonderful. And I'm not kidding when I tell you that I will throw myself in front of any bulldozer that wants to tear down the Colliseum. And I would stand by with a disapproving look if they were to tear down the Memorial Stadium.

So Bush meets this Marine who lost both his legs in Iraq and says \"Good Man, We\'re Gonna Get Him Some New Legs...\" Bush is the guy Dan Savage supported to start a war in Iraq. The Marine is the guy who is paying the price for Bush\'s stupidity and incompetence.

Excerpts below from Dan Savage\'s \"Say yes to war\" piece Oct. 2002

\"While the American left is content to see an Iraqi dictator terrorizing the Iraqi people, the Bushies in D.C. are not. \"We do not intend to put American lives at risk to replace one dictator with another,\" Dick Cheney recently told reporters. For those of you who were too busy making papier-mâché puppets of George W. Bush last week to read the papers, you may have missed this page-one statement in last Friday\'s New York Times: \"The White House is developing a detailed plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Iraq if the United States topples Saddam Hussein.\"\"

\"In the meantime, invading and rebuilding Iraq will not only free the Iraqi people, it will also make the Saudis aware of the consequences they face if they continue to oppress their own people while exporting terrorism and terrorists. The War on Iraq will make it clear to our friends and enemies in the Middle East (and elsewhere) that we mean business: Free your people, reform your societies, liberalize, and democratize... or we\'re going to come over there, remove you from power, free your people, and reform your societies for ourselves\"

The way that Seattle Center article is framed is one of the most bizarre things I've read in the Stranger -- which is saying a lot. The writer finds a handful of tiny little World's Fair incidents to conclude that the Center is cursed and a failure--it opened 22 minutes late? Horrors! How did this premise get past an editor? Did you actually do any research for this article? The Seattle World's Fair put Seattle on the map for many, many people. The Fair was a huge success. It brought 10 million people to the city at a time when Seattle was not exactly a tourist destination. And architecture? The Space Needle has become one of the most iconic and beloved examples of American architecture in existence -- not to mention the monorail. How bizarre to talk about the Center and it's architecture and barely mention those landmarks! And many fans of mid-century modernism like me also love the Science Center and Key Arena. Not that there aren't failures within the Center, or that there aren't things that could be improved! But it is still well used and very popular -- EMP, McCaw Hall, Bumbershoot, etc. To read this article you'd think it was some kind of an urban blight. I realize the story is mainly about changes to come in the future, but the whole premise of the article is just really inaccurate and lame.

I like seactr's thoughts, and also wonder how the hell the "Seattle Center jogger" sentence got past the editors, although sometimes The Stranger has all the journalistic integrity of the Berger-era Seattle Weekly.

I do think more open space would be great, but could do without the allergy-inducing grass. Maybe Eco-Turf.

I think Brendan Kiley's article about Seattle Center was misleading and superficial. The Seattle Center is neither run down nor crime riden. Which Seattle Center did he visit? Also Brendan credits David Heurtel with bringing Vera Project to Seattle Center. That's not true. It was the other deputy director John Merner who began the process of bringing Vera Project to Seattle Center. And to write that David Heurtel is the future of Seattle Center and director Robert Nellams is its past is very odd.